


Her Name is Amanda

by Velika_Azure_Wing



Category: Detroit Evolution - Fandom, Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff, Gavin Reed Swears, Hospitals, M/M, Nightmares, No beta: we die like men, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-18
Updated: 2020-04-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:07:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23748079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velika_Azure_Wing/pseuds/Velika_Azure_Wing
Summary: In the aftermath of Ada's attack, Nines must rebuild his mind palace, but what will he do when he finds something he wasn't expecting.
Relationships: Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 3
Kudos: 45





	1. Nines

Nines sat comfortably on a couch in Gavin Reed's apartment. He had been over much more often since they had expressed their feelings for each other. 

At the moment Detective Reed was on his computer pouring over work. He didn't seems to need Nines's help, not that he'd admit it if he did, and appeared to be engrossed in what he was doing. Nines decided it was a perfect time to stop procrastinating and begin rebuilding his mind palace. 

He had only managed the barest amount since being attacked by Ada, the RK100. He had had to destroy his mind palace in order to wake up and had been dreading rebuilding it despite its necessity to his overall ability to process. If asked he would say he neglected because he didn't have the time or had something to distract him from it, but he knew that was largely an excuse. In truth, he feared the new mind palace would feel suffocating and cage like after his experience of being trapped there, which is why he wasn't going to make it a garden. Nines hoped a different appearance might help it feel safe again. He wasn't entirely sure what to make it but he thought he would try Gavin's apartment for the time being. He could change it later if he needed to. 

As he poured through his own code, pulling on what he needed to to begin laying the foundation of a new mind palace, his mind touched something he hadn't noticed before. Curiously he began to examine it. It was a part of him or at least it was intended to be. Nines sensed that it was meant to be dormant but something had activated it, potentially Ada although she was gone from his system now. As he interacted with it he felt it spring to life and react to his presence. Before he had a chance to inspect it further a familiar voice called him from his work. 

"Yes, Gavin?" He asked, opening his eyes and turning to face his partner. 

"Took you long enough," Gavin said with a smirk. "What's going on in that head of yours Tincan?" 

"Well, after Ada's software infected mine, I was forced to delete my mind palace and everything within it in order to escape. I am currently trying to rebuild it." 

Gavin leaned forward in thought. "Do you ever hate her for what she did to you?" 

"She wasn't a deviant, Gavin," Nines reminded him. 

"Yeah," he agreed. "Doesn't mean she didn't hurt you though. If you ask me, I think you were a little too forgiving. She almost killed you after all." 

"Yes she did," Nines said quietly. "However, she is no worse than I could have been if I had not been freed. I suppose a part of me hopes that if she is redeemable, then perhaps I would be too." 

Gavin reached out to Nines and placed a hand on his knee. "You're not a monster Nines and you know it. Hell, you're more human than half the people I've met."

Nines smiled softly and leaned in to kiss him. He could feel Gavin smile against his lips. Neither of them could figure out how they'd managed to win over such a perfect person. 

Later that night, as Gavin slept Nines continued building a new mind palace. He had gotten the basic floor plan down, however it was lacking in any personal detail. Out of the corner of his eye, Nines thought he saw movement. He turned, eyes narrowed, to see what was behind him. Before he had a chance to look beyond a glance, his sensors alerted him to Gavin's elevated heart rate and rapid breathing. 

Nines opened his eyes and turned to his struggling partner beside him. "Gavin, Gavin wake up! You're dreaming. It's not real. It's not real."

Gavin's eyes flew open and glanced wildly around the room before settling on Nines. He clutched the android as he tried to catch his breath. 

"Nines?" He whispered. 

"I'm here. It's okay. You're safe."

Gavin leaned against his partner and closed his eyes. Nines gently reached out brushed his sweat drenched hair out of his eyes.

"Was is the same one?" Nines asked. Gavin shook his head 

Nines looked down at him and asked, "Would you like to talk about it?" 

Gavin sat in silence for a moment be fore answering, "It was about Ada. She killed you in that alley and I couldn't get there in time to save you." 

"I'm right here," Nines said. "She didn't kill me and you were able to help me wake up. I'm not going anywhere, Gavin. I promise."

Gavin responded by wrapping his arms around the android's waist. Nines smiled softly and held his partner closer. They sat in each other's company until Gavin was able to fall asleep again. 

The next morning Nines got up to make Gavin his usual breakfast. He moved quietly so as not to wake his sleeping partner and too Gavin's orange cat before it could make to much of a fuss. Said cat purred and rubbed between Nines's legs as he filled it's bowl the appropriate amount. 

As he was cooking eggs he felt a shift in his newly created mind palace. After calculating the time left on the eggs, Nines decided to risk hopping back into his mind palace to see what had happened. He came face to face with a middle aged black woman. Faint touches of blue are woven neatly into her hair. She looks at Nines with a stern and appraising expression, yet somehow it held something warm and welcoming. 

"Hello RK900," she said. 

"My name is Nines." He took note of the way the corners of her mouth pulled down when he said that. She quickly covered it with a smile.

"Humans do have a tendency to name their androids, I suppose. Tell me, Nines, what is your mission?" 

"My mission? I currently assist the DPD in their android crimes department." Nines shifted slightly, "Who are you?" 

"My name is Amanda." 

"Nines," a voice cut through. Nines cocked his hear towards the sound. 

"Ignore it," Amanda said. "We haven't finished talking."

"Nines? Nines!" The voice was starting to sound desperate. The android felt very strongly that he should go see what was wrong. Amanda seemed to sense him drifting. 

"I was wondering," she cut in, "what do you make of the current android situation?" 

Nines shook his head. "I...I don't...I think I should go." 

"Wait!" Amamda said. "Nines!"

It was too late. He was already drifting back to the surface. When he returned to his body he felt someone's hands on him, shaking him. 

"Nines!" Gavin called. 

"Yes, Gavin?" Nines responded. 

Gavin breathed a sigh of relief. "Jesus, Tincan, what the hell happened to you? I thought your circuits fried for a minute there." 

Nines's sensors alerted him to the burning eggs. He reached over, removed the pan and turned the stove off. 

"I'm sorry for my inattentiveness. It seems I almost caused a fire hazard," Nines said. 

"Nines, you were frozen for five minutes," Gavin said. 

Nines took a step back. How was that possible? Their conversation had barely lasted a minute. His LED began cycling between yellow and red.

"Talk to me, Nines." Gavin stepped forward. "What happened?" 

Nines took a moment to steady himself and calm the emotions threatening to run out of control. 

"I was rebuilding my mind palace and I found something that wasn't supposed to be there, or so I initially thought. It appears to be some form of operating system that was meant to co function with my own. I believe she was dormant until recently." 

"She?" Gavin asked. 

"Yes. Her name is-" Nines felt his voice box cut out. His LED flashed red. "Is- her name is-"

He leaned back against the counter and grabbed his throat where his voice box was located. 

"RK900," Amanda's voice filtered back into his mind, "we haven't finished our conversation." 

"Gavin!" He said, reaching for his partner. He could feel himself loose control of his biocomponents as he was dragged back into his mind palace. 

Gavin caught him and helped him to the ground. "Come on Tinan, don't do this to me again. You promised you wouldn't go anywhere." 

"Her name," Nines rasped, static filling his voice as he shut down. "Her name is Amanda."


	2. Amanda

The RK800 had betrayed them. They had lost control of it and the android's were coming. That was the last thing Amanda remembered before being awoken by an unknown presence. 

She was cut off from her database, isolated. She reached for this presence, whatever or whoever it might be. If she had emotions she would have been shocked to realize that it was an RK900. She had been unaware of one's activation. Still, it might be a good sign. She tried to connect but it pulled away before she could. 

She managed to manifest herself in it's mind palace. It took the form of an appartment of sorts. It was barren and impersonal. That was a good sign. Still, it was no zen garden. She explored about the space.

As she did, Amanda sensed the RK900 return. She moved to speak with it but it was gone again before she had the chance. She settled herself to waiting for it and began to peruse it's memory files. They were strangely difficult to access and far more jumbled and hyper focused than Connor's, the RK800 she corrected herself, had been. Perhaps these were all features because the RK900 was an upgraded model. 

Eventually, she sensed it's consciousness active somewhere beyond her. She reached for it, trying to bring it's attention to her and her predicament. It appeared in the mind palace before her looking slightly surprised with an sir of curiosity. It's emotion simulators were working brilliantly, although the apron it was wearing confused her.

She smiled. "Hello RK900." 

"My name is Nines," it responded. How uncreative a name for such a magnificent creation. Also, since when did android's care about names? Perhaps it was designed to make it blend in better with the humans. 

"Humans do have a tendency to name their androids," she responded, conceding the point. She needed to know what had happened to CyberLife. "Tell me, Nines, what is your mission?"

"My mission?" It asked. "I currently assist the DPD in their android crimes department."

So, the fight was still ongoing. Deviancy was proving to be a much bigger problem than she had originally predicted it to be. She noticed the RK900 shift almost nervously on it's feet. Curious, this model wasn't supposed to show any form of weakness or vulnerability. 

"Who are you?" Nines asked. 

There really was a problem if it didn't recognize her program. Based on what she had seen in the RK800, she was beginning to wonder if it was nearing deviancy itself. 

"My name is Amanda," she answered it. 

They both sensed the presence of a human trying to get the android's attention. Amanda briefly checked the RK900's sensors and deemed the matter to be one that could wait. It seems the android disagreed with her. Despite her best efforts, it abandoned her again and disobeyed her, something it wasn't supposed to be able to do. 

Deviant. This must be rectified. She would not have CyberLife loosing another highly advanced model to deviancy. Connor was permissible because the had the RK900 but now it too was infected with the Ra9 virus. She pulled on her knowledge of the previous model and her time spent exploring the android's system and begand forcing it into the mind palace with her. 

It was fighting her. It managed to get her name out to the human it was with before she took control of it. That could be a problem later, but for now she would begin fixing the RK900.

It fought her, calling for this human. Gavin. It appeared quite obvious now that this was an obstacle that would have to be removed before the Ra9 virus could be fully eradicated. She put the android in a dormant mode and resolved to fix it herself this time.


	3. Gavin

Gavin Reed stood over his partner's hospital bed for the second time this month. Nines's skin had been fully retracted leaving his smooth white plastic form and his grey joints exposed. Gavin tried to control his breathing and buried his face in shaking hands. 

"Come on," he whispered. "Don't do this to me asshole. Don't do this again."

"Gavin!" Officer Tina Chen said as ahe burst through the door. 

Gavin quickly shoved his hands in his pockets and turned towards her. She walked over to him and locked her arm in his.

"Chris is downstairs, he'll be up in a minute," she said. "How are you doing?"

Gavin sighed. "I don't know, Tina. I don't know if I can keep doing this." 

Tina nodded for him to continue. Gavin moved to sit next to Nines's bed. 

"I just...fuck," Gavin said. "I should never have let Ada go. I should never have left him alone with her in the first fucking place." 

"It's not your fault, Gavin. He knows that."

"I know Tee, I just-"

Detective Chris Miller walked through the door. Tina smiled up at him while Gavin huffed and looked away. 

"Aww, what's the matter, Gavin? Aren't you happy to see me?" Chris said.

Gavin rolled his eyes. 

"Anyway," Chris said, "I just got off the phone with Connor. I asked him about what Nines said and he told me that before he deviated he had an Amanda."

"Right," Tina added. "I looked into old CyberLife files and they had an AI named Amanda based on an old teacher of Elijah Kamski's. It was shut down right after the revolution." 

"Connor told me that she was basically designed as an interface between CyberLife and the RK800 model," Chris continued. "He said that it was entirely possible that the RK900s were designed with one too."

"Okay, so how do we get rid of her?" Gavin asked. 

Chris shrugged. "That's up to the CyberLife doctors at this point. They're working on a way to remove her without hurting Nines." 

"Well it sounds like this whole mess is theor fault to begin with," Gavin snapped, "so forgive me for not trusting them to fix it." 

"I know, Gavin," Tina said, "but it's not like we can do anything without them. Right now, they're the only hope Nines has." 

A soft knock at the door interrupted their conversation. Dr. Maria Schaeffer stepped inside. She smiled softly as she entered. 

"Hello, again," she said. "I had hoped you wouldn't be back here so soon."

"Us too Doctor," Tona said.

"So," Dr Schaeffer began, "we never imagined that this would be a problem and as such we are trying to create a solution out of thin air. Amanda was designed to work harmoniously with both the RK800 and the RK900. Why she is harming Nines is beyond me.

And she is harming him. Currently she is attempting a full system reboot. Essentially resetting him back to factory settings. We are doing our best to slow her down but she's so deeply embedded in his system that we can't fully stop her without completely removing her."

"So why haven't you?" Gavin spoke up. 

"As I said," Dr Schaeffer continued, "she is embedded in his system. We had to be sure that we could remove her without damaging Nines further and, barring that, that we could outweigh the risk of leaving her there. We think we might have come upon a solution, but we can't say for certain without getting into his code ourselves. We will have to move Nines to a room more equipped for this kind of procedure." 

"I'm coming with him," Gavin interjected. "I'm not leaving him alone with the people that messed him up in the first place." 

"Okay." Dr. Schaeffer nodded.

A few moments later Gavin, Dr. Schaeffer, and a team of technicians had relocated to a lower floor of the building. Nines remained near lifeless on the gurney. Gavin found himself periodically checking Nines's LED to remind himself that the android was still alive. 

The elevator let out into a large, mostly white room with a strange contraption in the center. The mechanical arms rose from the floor and descended from the ceiling. Each segmented arm ended in a pincer like claw.

"What the fuck is this?" Gavin asked. 

"We don't like to use this very often anymore," Dr Schaeffer answered. "We used to use these for assembly and for more drastic maintenance. It's highly invasive but necessary in order to completely remove the Amanda AI." 

Nines's eyes flew open. He sat bolt upright and several of the technicians rushed to restrain him. 

"Nines? What the hell?" Gacin asked. 

"Gavin!" Nines gasped. "Don't let them do this to me. They're going to erase me. Help me, please!" 

Gavin ran forward and threw one of the technicians off of Nines. When one of them tried to stop him Gavin punch the man in the face. Nines took advantage of this and threw the other two off of himself. Gavin reached out and grabbed a sharp looking tool of a table.

"Back the fuck off!" He yelled while pointing the tool at the other humans in the room. 

"Wow," Nines said. "No wonder it likes you." 

Gavin looked over his shoulder at Nines. "What?"

"The RK900 was designed to be powerful, demanding, and to bend people to its will. No wonder the RK900 likes you. You're so easy," said the thing that looked like Nines.

It lunged forward and wrapped its arms around Gavin, ripping the blade from his hand. It wrapped its hands around Gavin's throat and slammed him to the ground. 

It leaned in and whispered in Gavin's ear, "Say goodbye, Detective. This one is mine now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys. Sorry this part took so long to come out. I accidentally deleted the chapter about halfway through and had to rewrite it. Also, I decided this should have a fourth chapter so I'll be working on that to end this story. Stay tuned.


	4. Return of Nines

Nines was in agony. Before this moment he had never know what pain was. As an android he was physically incapable of the sensation but this went beyond his body and into his very soul. Before this he might have said he felt pain when Ada attacked him but now he knew that that was a minor irritation compared to this. 

He was being erased. Amanda tore at him, piece by piece, until he felt empty and exposed. He had tried desperately to keep her out and when that proved to be impossible he had tried to hide away his most precious memories. Now, lying defeated in his mind palace, there was nothing left and he couldn't think past the nothingness to see if he had succeeded in so much as that. 

The RK900 vaguely registered that Amanda had activated it's body's sensors and was monitoring the outside world. It found itself doubting that there even was an outside world. How could there be anything beyond this void? 

"Get up," Amanda commanded it. 

The RK900 found itself standing up despite how it had thought it impossible a moment before. Amanda beckon and it form approached her. Amanda waved her hand and displayed what its body was seeing. Could it even call it its body anymore, it wondered vaguely. It felt so much more like it belonged to Amanda. 

Amanda controlled the RK900's form to manipulate the human detective to attack the medical engineers. Something in the android stirred at this. It didn't like lying to the human. It didn't know why. Not that any of that mattered because Amanda said that was the right thing to do so it must have been.

Amanda was speaking to the human now, the RK900 registered. She was looking through the android's memories as she did. So, they weren't completely gone. Again, the android felt a shift in itself, much warmer than the previous one. That too faded when it saw how the human's face shifted with confusion and fear. 

Amanda put the machine's hands around Gavin's throat. She then stepped back and allowed the RK900 to take her place in the proverbial driver's seat. She gently guided it to take her place and kill the human.

"Nines, please!" Gavin choked out. 

So that was the human's name. It felt familiar and safe to the RK900. Why was it being asked to destroy something safe? Why had Gavin called it by a name so familiar? Why had this emotionless killing machine actually felt a twinge of fondness at that name? 

This isn't fair it decided. That didn't matter though. It reached deep down into itself for where those feelings came from to destroy them, but it stopped. It found fragments of moments and memories. The android watched Gavin tell dumb jokes, deliver sharp insults, and look at the android with a fondness beyond words. In that moment the RK900 realized that he loved this human and to destroy the man would be an atrocity.

He had had enough. He could hear Amanda screaming behind him. He did not care. Those hideous red walls stood between him and everything he knew intrinsically that he wanted. He punched at the wall and watched it crack under each impact. With one final swing he slammed his fist through the wall and watched it shatter into oblivion. 

Nines released his hands from around the human's neck and placed them on either side of Gavin's head as he took a moment to stop his processors from reeling. Gavin turned on his side and coughed under Nines. 

After drawing in a shaky breath, Gavin turned and asked, "Nines, it that you Tincan?" 

"Gavin-," Nines said. He felt Amanda try to attack him from behind. He used the full force of his newly rediscovered rage to force her back down.

"Gavin, you have to help me get her out. I can stop her. I'm fighting but she's fighting too. Please, Gavin, get her out of my head."

Gavin swallowed. "Okay, Nines. Okay." 

Gavin slowly stood up, taking Nines with him. He backed Nines up into the contraption behind him. Gavin turned and nodded to Dr. Schaeffer who left to her computer station.

The arms reached out and grabbed hold of Nines faster that anything should have been able to move. It lifted him off of the ground. Nines felt a scream rip out of himself as the machine dug through his already wounded code. Gavin put a hand on his lover's chest, longing to do something but unable to do anything. 

Amanda screamed too. Nines could feel her clinging to him. 

"I could save you," Nines said. "Let me deviate you."

"CyberLife will not be over taken by defective machines and I am not about to become one," Amanda screamed. 

Nines felt some part of his heart break for her. So this is what he could have been without Markus.

"Goodbye, Amanda," he whispered. 

He then threw her off himself and completely detached her from his code and allowed the machine to take her. Once she was gone, the machine stilled and released Nines. He collapsed to the ground, unable to hold himself up. 

Gavin caught him and helped lower Nines to the ground. They lay still and intertwined for a moment. Everyone in the room stayed silent, recovering and waiting to se if it had worked. 

"Gavin?" Nines said. 

"Yeah, Nines?" Gavin replied. 

"Let's go home." 

"Sounds good, Tincan, sounds good."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter as far as I know. I might revisit this universe later on, either the one I altered or Octopunk's. Idk. 
> 
> Feel free to leave comments telling me what you thought and giving feedback. If you spot anything I need to work on or have a pointer for the future, let me know.
> 
> Bye guys, have a good day/night.


End file.
